{"id":1274,"date":"2011-11-17T10:40:04","date_gmt":"2011-11-17T14:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crosscultural\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2011-11-17T10:48:07","modified_gmt":"2011-11-17T14:48:07","slug":"free-travel-journals-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/2011\/11\/17\/free-travel-journals-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Free travel journals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wilderness,<\/a> Watching shark week on the Discovery Channel has ruined the ocean for me. I can no longer go in the water without the thought of a shark taking off with my thigh. However, more specifically shark week has given me a fear of the South African coast because this is where all the stories of great whites come from.\u00a0 With that being said, when David first offered to go surfing on free travel with me, I said no. As time went on, I decided this was my time to be brave. So we called the surf shop in Mossel Bay and rented some boards and wet suits.<\/p>\n

We arrived at the beach nervous but excited, and when I say we were nervous, I mean I was nervous. The scariest thing was the fact that Seal Island (a hot spot for great whites) was within eye sight. We then suited up and got in the water. Luckily the water was so cold it took my mind off my fear of the sharks. The waves were big and constant. For an experienced surfer this might mean catching some great waves. However, for me it meant struggling to keep my board attached without hitting myself in the face with it. Over the whole time we saw no sign of sharks but did have a close call with a seal. In the end I learned two things about myself, I cannot swim well and my balance is terrible. I had lots of fun, and hope to do it again sometime.<\/p>\n

-Aaron Brydge<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Over the past week, we have been traveling to different backpacker lodges every couple days along the Garden Route.\u00a0 It was very interesting seeing the different cities and towns.\u00a0 Laci, Sarah Grace, Rebekah and I went to three different lodges in five days. Out of the three places we went, I really enjoyed Mossel Bay.<\/p>\n

We stayed at a nice place called Little Brak Beach House. It was 10 minutes away from the city of Mossel Bay. I loved being away from the city and just relaxing.\u00a0 Thankfully, we had a wonderful day at the beach while we were there.\u00a0 In Wilderness, Laci and I were laying out and we got \u201cwaved on\u201d. The lodge reminded me of home, which was so relaxing.\u00a0 We had pizza one night and stir-fry the last night.\u00a0 It was a lot of fun getting to know the girls more. Now I am looking forward to the next month in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

-Jessica Blanks<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Over the course of the past week, our group split into smaller groups and spent \u201cFall Break\u201d touring the Garden Route.\u00a0 The Garden Route is the path one travels along the Eastern Coast of South Africa that offers many convenient excursions and amenities geared towards tourists. My group, consisting of Heidi Bauman, Laura Hershey, Anna Weaver and Kiera Stenson, started in Plettenberg Bay followed by Mossel Bay and ended in Stellenbosh. The week was mostly spent basking in the hot African sun on the white sandy beaches of the beautiful, blue Indian Ocean. By far, the best fall break in college! One of the excursions I ventured on was deep sea fishing in Mossel Bay with Justin King. It was a joke of sorts in that since we had celebrated our birthdays on the same day, it was our gift to each other.\u00a0 We set sail into the wide, blue yonder on \u201cSharky\u201d the name of our motorboat. Once we got past the swells and intense waves the ocean was peaceful.<\/p>\n

The famous hymn \u201cIt is well\u201d by Horatio Spafford immediately consumed my thoughts. Spafford had written the hymn in remembrance of his four daughters, over the spot where the boat had capsized. Through unimaginable tragedy, Spafford penned the hymn, inspiring hope and peace through good and bad times in life.\u00a0 Justin and I engaged in conversation, one in particular, about the powers of water and its versatility, more specifically the vastness of the ocean.\u00a0 During our silence, I then made a parallel to God.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t God the same way? He has exposed himself to me in so many different ways throughout the past two months in South Africa, through trials and tribulations and blessings, both obvious and in disguise.\u00a0 His presence is as big as the Indian Ocean and as small as the smile on Lindiwe\u2019s face, my five year old host brother in Lesotho.<\/p>\n

God is omnipotent and versatile.\u00a0 Although God is constant, I am constantly growing and changing as a result of His vastness. \u00a0I\u2019ve been blessed with the opportunity to engage in relationships with Africans and even more so, with each member on this cross-cultural.\u00a0 The beauty of it all is that the journey is far from over.<\/p>\n

-Sarah Leland<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watching shark week on the Discovery Channel has ruined the ocean for me. I can no longer go in the water without the thought of a shark taking off with my thigh. However, more specifically shark week has given me a fear of the South African coast because this is where all the stories of … Continue reading Free travel journals<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4007],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-south-africa-2011"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1274"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1276,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions\/1276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}